The subject matter disclosed herein relates to gasification cooling systems, such as radiant syngas coolers, which cool gas from a gasifier.
Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants are capable of generating energy from various hydrocarbon feedstock, such as coal, relatively cleanly and efficiently. IGCC technology may convert the hydrocarbon feedstock into a gas mixture including carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2), e.g., syngas, by reaction with steam in a gasifier. These gases may be cooled, cleaned, and utilized as fuel in a conventional combined cycle power plant. For example, a radiant syngas cooler (RSC) may receive and cool the syngas upstream from a water gas shift reactor and/or other gas cleaning units. Unfortunately, the incorporation of slag in the syngas entering a throat of the RSC can potentially damage heat exchanger tubing without sufficient separation of the slag from the syngas. Furthermore, current approaches for separating the slag from the syngas before the syngas reaches the heat exchanger tubing, for example, by limiting the diameter of the throat, may increase the velocity of the syngas flow through the RSC, which complicates the design for optimal syngas cooling via heat exchange in the RSC.